Dyson Cinetic DC54 Performance

Despite ticking all the on-paper boxes, the Dyson Cinetic DC54 falls down slightly on a number of performance points. That’s not to say it is not a strong vacuum, however. The Cinetic is a phenomenal cleaning machine, tackling all of our tests without the slightest hint of fuss.

Where the handheld Dyson DC59 struggled slightly on plush carpets due its lower suction levels, the Cinetic DC54’s 290AW of cleaning power meant everything from beanbag balls, pine needles and sugar were all removed from a carpet’s fibres with just a single pass.

What’s more, scattering flour, rice and orange peel on a hardwood floor the DC54 showed no sign of effort in removing all detritus. Power and performance needs to be balanced with some level of finesse, though, and this is where the Cinetic becomes unstuck.

With a telescopic arm allowing you to set the cleaner’s height to better suit your individual needs, the Cinetic is capable of transitioning from hard floors to carpeted areas with ease. Sadly, though, the arm has an issue.

This cleaning arm generates large amounts of static resulting in dust being attracted to the outside of the extension like a magnet. While this might not sound like a major problem, after a brief five minute clean, the vacuum’s arm had a significant coating of dirt that required its own clean, lengthening the cleaning process with unnecessary fuss.

On top of this, while the DC54 comes bundled with a dedicated stair tool the vacuum’s footprint is too large to be used to clean stairs in a safe and comfortable manner. The Cinetic’s considerable bulk means holding the vacuum while cleaning the stairs is also out of the question.

Adding yet another dirty mark again to the Cinetic’s name, the DC54 is is a bit of a faff to empty, unlike most other Dysons.

It adopts the same bag-free, push button emptying system as many of its siblings, but the DC54’s dust bucket features a rounded bottom. This curved base means that even when the emptying flap flops open, much of the dust, dirt and fluff remains caught in the hollow of the base. The result is the need to get your hands dirty – hardly ideal for a near-£500 vacuum.

Should I buy the Dyson Cinetic DC54?

As strong a cleaner as the Dyson Cinetic DC54 is, we would have to recommend the company’s other vacuuming efforts over the latest flagship powerhouse.

At £459 the Cinetic is far from cheap, even by Dyson’s standards, and for this price there are a number of more well-rounded machines on the market. The Dyson DC49 offers strong cleaning for cylinder vacuum fans in a far more compact form while the Dyson DC50 provides similar power levels in an upright guise.

Although a five year parts guarantee does make the Cinetic a marginally more appealing option, this feature is present on the company’s full product lineup.

So, in short, unless you have a large, sparse, single storey home that simply requires a powerful clean then you should probably look elsewhere.

Verdict

If we judged vacuums solely on their suction ability, the Dyson Cinetic would be a winner. In real-world situations, however, the oversized cylinder vacuum has just a few too many issues. The curved bottom bin is a major design oversight and for £459 we would expect better than the dust friendly cleaning arm.

Next, read our Dyson DC50 review

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